


At Least You Tried

by youngavengerfeels



Category: Captain America - All Media Types, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, M/M, Meet-Cute, Pole Dancing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-20 21:12:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11929362
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youngavengerfeels/pseuds/youngavengerfeels
Summary: Bucky owns a pole dancing studio. Steve is a terrible student.





	At Least You Tried

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, here is a short little meet cute I whipped up for you guys. I love the idea of a pole dancing AU that isn't a stripper au. But Steve is terrible at dance which i thought would translate onto the pole as well. I hope you guys enjoy it.

Teaching classes for bachelorette parties was the worst. He made them sign a contract saying they wouldn't get drunk until after but still it wasn't that much better. It might be if Bucky was drunk, but that would be unprofessional and Bucky was nothing if not professional. The parties weren’t inherently bad, but a lot of the times the women didn’t really listen to his safety instructions which was incredibly frustrating. The women were also way more open about ogling Bucky’s body and he had to remind more than one party about sexual harassment. Still bachelorette parties were great for business so Bucky was willing to put up with it. 

He watched the women come into the studio and saw a huge hunk of man come in. Huh, that was different. Maybe he was the husband to be. It would be a shame if he was because damn the guy was good looking. He was wearing a grey under armour shirt that was obscenely tight, the the shorts were even worse. He knew the website encouraged everyone to wear tight clothing but this guy had to have bought that outfit two sizes too small. 

“Ok ladies and gentleman I just need to to fill out waivers and then we will get onto the fun stuff.” Bucky said handing out the clipboards. Upon receiving them back he quickly glanced at the man’s to learn his name; Steve. 

He started the class with a quick warm up and stretching and then get right into the meet of the class. Normally he would do conditioning but bachelorette parties were all about having a good time and not about actually learning, so Bucky tried to tailor the experience accordingly. He used to include his normal conditioning but he had gotten a few too many angry reviews about party goers being too sore the next day. 

Bucky knew what he looked like, it was actually like 20% of why his business was as successful as it was, especially with bachelorette parties. If he tried a little harder than normal sue him, the guy was hot and Bucky hadn't gotten laid in a while. He normally wouldn’t even think that way about a student but Steve was a little to tempting for his mind not to go there. 

“Alright we are going to start with a basic pole walk,” Bucky instructed the class in how to walk around the pole, engaging the shoulder and encouraging them to add their own sexy flare. “That’s it ladies, you all look fabulous flaunt it,” Bucky said. His eyes flickered to Steve who had taken a pole in the middle row. Bucky had to double take because had never seen someone fail so badly at just walking around the pole. The guy was hanging out of his shoulder in a way that would lead to an injury if he tried to do any moves out of it. He also just looked so awkward. He was stumbling walking on his tip toes and trying to do a ‘sexy’ walk but just kind of made it look like he had to pee. His face also looked like he had just sucked on a lemon. The man seemed a whole lot less intimidating now. 

“Lift your hand higher, and don’t sink into your shoulder,” Bucky said moving to stand in front of Steve who seemed to be embarrassed by the attention, if the sudden flush was anything to go by. He complied and once Bucky was assure he wasn’t going to fuck up his shoulder he left Steve to awkwardly circle the pole in peace, although he did continue to watch him from the corner of his eye. 

Bucky got the parties attention and moved into teaching some spins. He demonstrated the move as slowly as e could and left the class have at it. He was helping spot on nervous woman and almost missed it, but managed to catch Steve attempting the spin out of the corner of his eye. Steve was death gripping the pole and ended up putting way too much force into the spin, smacking himself against the pole and then falling to the ground.

“I’m alright, I’m alright,” Steve assured as one of his friends moved to help him up. He looked more embarrassed than anything else and wouldn't look Bucky in the eye.

“I appreciate the enthusiasm but the goal is to stay on the pole,” Bucky teased as he moved to help Steve. 

The rest of the class was pretty uneventful. His butt only got slapped twice which was a record low for him which was nice. Steve didn’t loosen up for the rest of class which was a shame since he was the only one with enough upper body strength to actually lift himself onto the pole. At the end of class he performed a piece at the request the bride. The part cheered widely, and Bucky knew that Steve was watching him avidly. He was more than a little disappointed when the party left, taking Steve with it. The eye candy had been a welcome change for his female dominated classes. 

Bucky loved his Tuesday beginners class. It was a drop in class so the students rotated on a week to week basis but he had a good group of regulars on Tuesday. He loved seeing their progression. He was just about to start class when the door opened and in stepped Steve. Bucky was floored. After Steve's last attempt to pole he had assumed the man would call it quits, just a fun activity for a friend's party. 

Bucky spent the whole class distracted. It was lucky the regulars knew all the conditioning drills and pushed themselves because Bucky was too busy watching Steve breeze through all the exercises. The guy was serious strong and made Bucky feel like he needed to hit the gym a little more. 

They moved on to the actual lesson and Bucky showed the class the combo they would be learning. Most of the regulars gave excited nods, always looking for a new challenge but poor Steve was standing in the back corner looking terrified at everything Bucky had just thrown out them. 

It wasn't that Steve lacked strength, he had wondered I maybe Steve's hyper toned body prevented him from being flexible but watching Steve slide into his splits disproved that theory. So Bucky was left wondering why Steve was so bad a pile dancing. He prides himself on making his class's achievable for everyone but Steve just couldn't get it. Even just the simple walk around the poke bad him stumbling, looking like a baby giraffe. 

Steve ended up becoming a regular. Bucky couldn’t figure out for the life of him why though. Steve clearly wasn’t getting better. He could lift himself into any position Bucky threw at him, but any time they actually put the moves together in a combo Steve floundered. He would grimace and stumble his way through it, but he clearly wasn’t enjoying it but he showed up every Tuesday.  Bucky may spend a little more time spotting Steve, gently guiding Steve’s body into the correct poses on the pole, more than necessary but Bucky couldn’t resist. The first day Steve had actually shed his shirt to get better skin on pole contact Bucky had almost wept. Those tight shirts had left little to the imagination but actually seeing that perfectly sculpted chest was almost a religious experience. Bucky wasn’t really one to swoon over a body, he had been desensitized that long ago in his field, but he made a special exception for Steve because hot damn that man was fine. 

He wasn't unaware of Steve’s gaze on him whenever he thought Bucky wasn’t looking. It was hard not to notice with all the mirrors in the room. The gaze was more than just a student studying the teacher. Bucky was almost positive Steve was staring at him the same way Bucky stared at Steve, although Bucky was way more subtle about it. Bucky wasn’t really starved for praise on his looks, his instagram account was always flooded with objectifying comments, but he felt oddly flattered by Steve’s gaze. It was appreciated but not creepy. He just wished Steve would ask him out or something.

Steve always hung around after class cooling down and helping Bucky clean up since it was the last class of the night. They never really talked more than small talk about how the each other’s weeks were going or about class but Bucky slowly started to learn more about Steve. He was an artist of all things and a veteran like Bucky himself. He hated cold weather almost as much as Bucky did and also shared a love for the Mexican-Chinese restaurant that was a five minute walk from the studio.

Bucky was seriously reconsidering his policy not to hit on students, just for this one special case. The one thing he really wanted to know though was why Steve came back to class every week. He didn’t seem to actually enjoy the class portion but always was cheerful when he talked to Bucky after. When most students couldn't get a pose or a combo that pushed them to try harder, but Steve just sort of shrugged it off and didn’t try all that hard which infuriated Bucky because would be an amazing pole dancer if he just tried.

Steve was helping wipe down the poles while Bucky swept up when Bucky couldn’t handle his curiosity any longer.

“Can I ask you something? It's going to sound harsh but I really don’t mean it in a bad way,” Bucky asked. 

“I’m a little worried to say yes after that really comforting intro, but go ahead,” Steve said with a nervous laugh.

“Why are you here? Like you clearly aren’t into this and you don’t seem to want to get better,” Bucky said wincing a little bit. It had come out a little more accusatory than he meant he he really didn’t make it a habit to questions his customers motives when they patronized his studio.

“Sorry I suck at dancing,” Steve said sheepishly. “I’ve always had two left feet. When I was really little my mom enrolled me in a community ballet class and I managed to topple to whole class over during the recital,” Steve said sounding almost fond of the memory. 

“And you thought adding a pole would make you better?”  Bucky asked incredulously.

“You make a good point,” Steve conceded.  “I swear I’m not normally this clumsy, just something about dancing brings out the awkward in his own body teenager in me,” Steve said with an awkward laugh. 

“I totally believe you, but how about I take you out to dinner to make sure you really are as suave as you’re making out to be,” Bucky said taking the opening.  

“Oh thank fuck you finally asked, I thought I was going to have to actually learn pole in the time it was taking me to work up the courage to ask you out,” Steve said relief in his voice which made Bucky laugh so hard he bent over a little bit. 

“You are so lucky you’re pretty,” Bucky said with a laugh, patting Steve on the shoulder. 


End file.
